Stan Getz: Big Band Bossa Nova [VERVE]

Why you'll love it

A remastered stereo pressing of Getz's second bossa nova album for Verve, in a gatefold jacket. Gary McFarland's arrangements put Getz's tenor in front of woodwinds, French horn and two percussionists, and Jim Hall, Hank Jones, Doc Severinsen and Bob Brookmeyer all step out for solos.

This edition

• Remastered, stereo
• Gatefold jacket
• Eight tracks, as on the 1962 LP

About the album

Jazz Samba, with Charlie Byrd, had made Stan Getz the face of bossa nova in America earlier in 1962, and Verve and producer Creed Taylor didn't hang about. By late August, Getz was at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York with 26-year-old arranger Gary McFarland, recording four Brazilian songs ("Chega De Saudade", "Samba De Uma Nota So", "Manha De Carnaval", "Bim Bom") and four McFarland originals written in the same lilting style.

McFarland skipped the usual wall of brass for something lighter: flutes and clarinets, a single French horn, a handful of trumpets and trombones, and percussion that keeps everything swaying. Getz floats across the top, breathy and unhurried, sounding like the coolest man in any room. It's the record for a long dinner that turns into a longer evening, which we gather is rather the point of bossa nova.

Tracklist

Listen

Out July 24, 2026 on Verve (cat# 5708506), a reissue of the 1962 album.